


Panspermia

by dying_deist



Category: Muse
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Aliens, M/M, SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Science Fiction, Spaceships, UFOs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1274629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dying_deist/pseuds/dying_deist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, comets and planetoids.”</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own Muse. This is a work of fiction and it never happened.
> 
> I spent all those days off working on this new fic. My eyes are hurting and I have this annoying headache, so I hope all my hard work will be worth it. I created a new language just for this fic (based on Zulu and Portuguese, with the necessary adaptations) and it was not easy, okay?! D': I thank [ludelic](http://ludelic.livejournal.com) for giving me the idea for this story moooonths ago! I finally felt inspired enough to start writing this. I know aliens fics are not everyone's cup of tea, so please, but there are people who like it, so whoever read this I hope you enjoy it <3
> 
> **Instructions - read this, it's important!:** so, I said I kinda created this new language and I actually use it in this fic. Don't worry, it won't happen very often in the next chapters. There are two versions of the first scene, the first version has speeches in the weird language and narrative in English. If you're using a computer to read this, you can see the translations just passing the mouse over the italic line. If you're using a phone to read the fic, I'd suggest you to pick the second version (the one under the 'English version' cut just after the end of the first scene), because I don't know if the translations would work on everyone's phones (it doesn't work on mine). Also, if you're interested, there are a few links spread throughout the text, samples of sounds or ref pictures.
> 
> Enough of babbling! XD I hope you'll enjoy it, and please, let me know whatever you think. Your opinion is important to me, so I can decide whether I'll keep dying doing researches or not <333

***  


_“Njen isihathi geja uze fika-si ku si ukHona, aTLaS?”_ asked the red haired navigator after pressing a few buttons on his spaceship’s control panel.

_“28 imizu no 35 kweli, uSir,”_ replied the artificially intelligent computer system in a robotic voice.

_“Kuze sithu ihubane?” _

_“Manhe jeso vele dhula-si nge Ibhan Ikelele, kho-sha-si uze ihubane okuhanya.” _

_“Ugh, leli kuba kanja kanne! Kho kwama-si sha?” _

_“Funa jeso kho, uSir. Si vele kube-si no modi somotho, ephene kho ube-si andla onele uze fika uPhaba.” _

_“Modi somotho? Kowa kugani?”_ The navigator looked inquisitively at a big green luminous ball inserted in the center of the panel. A[ weird sound](http://www.soundsnap.com/communicator_alert) emanated from the ball, as if it was searching for some information. The humanlike quirked a red-haired eyebrow and tapped on the edge of the panel, waiting for the answer. _“aTLaS…?”_

The ‘searching’ sound ceased and aTLaS soon answered, _“Izathu, uSir, kowa ngathu kho kube mIa fayel kho-yeke-za.”_

_“Kuze fushane kini fayelende?”_ the manlike sighed and rubbed his brow, obviously predicting the answer.

_“aTLaS-lib 7.6.3, yukumisa mBoni, uSir. Abe a yeke tholake, aTLaS-lib 10.1.1.” _

_“oJeso?! Kowa Ia yeke kini zolo! Kugani kini beka lisusa?!”_ the red-haired man growled in frustration. _“Kuze kini yingha? Kini kho kuba-za enesi abe amye sonto edlu... Ia uthola jeso iYa lilisusa kini zulelo lapho buya-si uze iHaya.”_

_“Ie uthola-za jeso kuba-za uMgane, uSir.” _

_“Thula, aTLaS.” _ the navigator couldn’t help chuckling before looking ahead, observing the huge star in the center of the solar system. He sighed in awe. The biggest star in his system was a mere red dwarf, nothing compared to the one he was observing now.

He reclined in his comfortable command chair, put his slender arms behind his head and looked at his surroundings inside the cabin navigation.

There was a huge control panel before him, with countless tiny green, red, yellow and blue lights, twinkling in a curious pattern; there were also many buttons, small and big ones, most of them placed near the green ball in the middle. There were two more navigator chairs on each side of his, but they were empty.

That was pretty much what existed inside that cabin.

The journey continued in silence for some time, until they had passed Mars and began approaching Earth. _“Abe kanja mizu lana phasi!” _ it was the first comment the humanlike made, visibly astonished by the blue immensity he saw. Even though his origin planet was four times bigger than Earth, he had never seen a planet as ‘blue’ as this one.

_“Kuba kugani kan 70% phezulu uPhaba kube kava-za mizu, uSir.” _

_“Ie nazi, aTLaS. Kuba kanja obala!” _

_“Izathu, uSir. Ie uthola-”_ Suddenly a loud [alarm](http://www.soundsnap.com/node/67233) echoed through the small cabin. All lights went red and the spaceship started oscillating, as if it was struggling to stabilise again.

_“aTLaS, kuthi kube vela?!” _

_“uSir, zileni Iwento phutha-za.”_ the system’s voice was steady, in contrast with the worried tone in the pilot’s voice.

_“Goba?!”_ he pressed a few buttons, but the spaceship couldn’t stabilise. Instead it just began to quiver uncontrollably, already entering the Earth’s atmosphere. _“Oh, indle! Si kho iYa-si sala ku kowehla kha zileni Iwento! Goba leli vela-za?!”_ Once again the system emitted a searching sound, barely audible over the loud alarm. _“Kani sesha aphendule jeso kini kho ube!” _ he shouted, very concerned about the future of the spaceship and himself.

_“Kini ohana yeke mIa fayelende fayel, uSir?” _ the calm, robotic voice asked.

_“THULA!”_ he then noticed a bright light from outside and when he looked up at the large windscreen, he saw fire swallowing the spaceship’s nose. _“Oh, mIa... oJeso abe phutha nge zulelo friji?! SI IYA-SI UKUSHA!”_

_“Zulelo friji kube kho-wazi-za, uSir.” _

_“WAZI!”_ he pressed the cooling system button, but nothing happened. He could feel the air inside the cabin getting hot.

_“Wazi thikhi zulelo friji kho kube tholake yeke fushane fayelende fayel, uSir. Kini kwama iYa ku uLayo no wazi zulelo friji kiniku ona kini kwama mIa yeke. Kuba bambe, Ie fuka.” _

_“CANSI!” _ he quickly got out of his chair planning to go enable the cooling system, but he couldn’t walk with such heavy turbulence. _“Qaleso...” _ he complained and sat back on his chair, firmly pulling the safety belt tight.

The fire had increased and the humanlike lost sight of the outside where flames consumed the whole front of the spaceship. The tremors became worse with every second of the uncontrolled descent and his stomach churned when he felt the vehicle falling vertically.

_“Abe into kan jeso Ie kwama ze nge kini, uSir?”_ the program asked.

"Kho." he held firmly on the armchairs, his whole body tense, his frowning face coated in sweat.

Suddenly the red-haired humanlike regretted volunteering to visit the Earth.

 

***

 

 

 

***** ENGLISH VERSION *****

 

“How long until we get to our destination, aTLaS?” asked the red haired navigator after pressing a few buttons on his spaceship’s control panel.

“28 minutes and 35 seconds, sir,” replied the artificially intelligent computer system in a robotic voice.

“What is our speed?”

“Now that we have crossed the asteroid belt, we have slowed down to the speed of light”

“Ugh, this is too slow! Can’t we just speed up?”

“I’m afraid we can’t, sir. We’re already on the economic mode, otherwise we won’t have enough power to get to Earth.”

“Economic mode? But why?” The navigator looked inquisitively at a big green luminous ball inserted in the center of the panel. A [weird sound](http://www.soundsnap.com/communicator_alert) emanated from the ball, as if it was searching for some information. The humanlike quirked a red-haired eyebrow and tapped on the edge of the panel, waiting for the answer. “aTLaS…?”

The ‘searching’ sound ceased and aTLaS soon answered, “I’m sorry, sir, but the reason is not in my outdated files.”

“What’s the version of your library?” the manlike sighed and rubbed his brow, obviously predicting the answer.

“aTLaS-lib 7.6.3, factory setting, sir. There’s an available update, aTLaS-lib 10.1.1.”

“What?! But I updated you yesterday! Why do you keep resetting your setting?!” the red-haired man growled in frustration. “What’s your problem? You were not malfunctioning until a few weeks ago… I think I’ll reformat your system when we go back home.”

“I thought we were friends, sir.”

“Shut up, aTLaS.” the navigator couldn’t help chuckling before looking ahead, observing the huge star in the center of the solar system. He sighed in awe. The biggest star in his system was a mere red dwarf, nothing compared to the one he was observing now.

He reclined in his comfortable command chair, put his slender arms behind his head and looked at his surroundings inside the cabin navigation.

There was a huge control panel before him, with countless tiny green, red, yellow and blue lights, twinkling in a curious pattern; there were also many buttons, small and big ones, most of them placed near the green ball in the middle. There were two more navigator chairs on each side of his, but they were empty.

That was pretty much what existed inside that cabin.

The journey continued in silence for some time, until they had passed Mars and began approaching Earth. “There’s so much water down there!” it was the first comment the humanlike made, visibly astonished by the blue immensity he saw. Even though his origin planet was four times bigger than Earth, he had never seen a planet as ‘blue’ as this one.

“It’s because more than 70% of the planetary surface is covered in water, sir.”

“I know, aTLaS. It’s pretty obvious!”

“Sorry, sir. I just thought-” Suddenly a loud [alarm](http://www.soundsnap.com/node/67233) echoed through the small cabin. All lights went red and the spaceship started oscillating, as if it was struggling to stabilise again.

“aTLaS, what’s happening?!”

“Sir, the linear orbiter has failed.” the system’s voice was steady, in contrast with the worried tone in the pilot’s voice.

“How?!” he pressed a few buttons, but the spaceship couldn’t stabilise. Instead it just began to quiver uncontrollably, already entering the Earth’s atmosphere. “Oh, shit! We won’t survive the landing without the linear orbiter! How did it happen?!” Once again the system emitted a searching sound, barely audible over the loud alarm. “Stop searching for answers that you don’t have!” he shouted, very concerned about the future of the spaceship and himself.

“Would you like to update my data library now, sir?” the calm, robotic voice asked.

“SHUT UP!” he then noticed a bright light from outside and when he looked up at the large windscreen, he saw fire swallowing the spaceship’s nose. “Oh, my… What’s wrong with the cooling system?! WE WILL IGNITE!”

“Cooling system is disabled, sir.”

“ENABLE IT!” he pressed the cooling system button, but nothing happened. He could feel the air inside the cabin getting hot.

“Automatic enabling of cooling system is not available in the current version of data library, sir. You can go to the reactor and activate the cooling system by yourself or you can update me. It’s quick, I swear.”

“FUCK YOU!” he quickly got out of his chair planning to go enable the cooling system, but he couldn’t walk with such heavy turbulence. “Damn it...” he complained and sat back on his chair, firmly pulling the safety belt tight.

The fire had increased and the humanlike lost sight of the outside where flames consumed the whole front of the spaceship. The tremors became worse with every second of the uncontrolled descent and his stomach churned when he felt the vehicle falling vertically.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?” the program asked.

“No.” he held firmly on the armchairs, his whole body tense, his frowning face coated in sweat.

Suddenly the red-haired humanlike regretted volunteering to visit the Earth.

 

***

 

Alone in the laboratory, Dominic carefully observed the 3D projection of the fossil that some of his paleontologist colleagues had found a week ago in a remote area of Canada. According to their research, there was a great possibility that the fossilised species could be the long sought-after ‘missing link’, the bridge between humans and apes. Finding the missing link would fill the holes of the evolutionary theory.

Although Dominic was tasked for helping in this new discovery, he was not a paleontologist or an historian; though he was many other things. The 29-year-old man had a degree in biological sciences with specializations in the fields of genetic, evolutive biology and physiology - not to mention his curiosity for engineering, something outside of his official studies, but which interested him as much as his main areas of research.

His job here with the new fossil, was to sequence the genes and compare them with that of humans and apes. However, even though the fossil had been found buried in the frozen ground in conditions of extreme cold - which helped to preserve the DNA - it had suffered the hardships of weather and time, breaking up and getting infected by microorganisms over the millennia.

Thankfully technology had improved significantly since the early 2010s, getting to a point where it could mostly recover said fragmented DNAs.

There was no one around, everyone had left but Dom, who decided to go further with his investigation. The figure Dominic was looking at that moment was an holographic projection on the center of the big table on his laboratory. When he looked at the digital numbers on the translucent table surface, he found out it was already half past ten. Ignoring the late hour, Dominic stepped closer to the hologram, analysing it and then glancing down at the table, where some numbers had just shown up with a beep. And another one, and again.

“What’s that…?” Dominic muttered to himself, frowning and noticing several numbers appearing fast, one after the other, being followed by an annoying [beep sequence](http://www.soundsnap.com/data_processing_and_crunching_numbers_4) for each new number.

He placed his forefinger over the surface, just above the numbers, and slid up, revealing some sort of menu. Before he could even think of inserting another command, he felt what could be the beginning of an earthquake. The whole building trembled disturbingly, making Dominic hold tight to the edges of the table just to maintain his balance. He heard clanking as some of his tools fell to the floor and the lights began failing. The whole episode barely lasted ten seconds.

Dominic took more than a minute to recompose himself. Panting hard, he looked up at the table; the hologram had gone and there were missing numbers where previously there had been several. Observing his surroundings, he found many tools scattered on the floor along with a weird, green fluid leaking from a test-tube, what made him sigh in annoyance because he’d have clean all that mess later.

But first he walked towards the big window in his laboratory. The curtains were closed, of course. He always kept them closed while working, so as not to get distracted by anything from outside. He was an intelligent guy, but knew he was easily distracted, so he always chose to close the curtains and he worked better when there wasn’t anyone around.

When Dominic pressed the button on the wall and the curtains rolled up, he was struck speechless by what he saw.

The laboratory where Dominic worked was located in an area far away from the city, practically in the middle of a forest. Considering the hour, it was impossible to see anything out there, but after the earthquake a flickery bright, orange light was coming from outside, illuminating the dark landscape. He saw rows of trees burning and wondered what actually had happened. He had not had heard anything during the trembling because the whole building was fitted with a sound proof system.

His eyes followed the trail of flames and caught sight of an unidentifiable object burning in the forest. “What...” he narrowed his eyes and approached the window even more, just to try to see what that strange object was. “Could that be a meteorite?”

He tried to fight against the urge to go out and investigate by himself. He really tried, but he couldn’t.

Dominic was a curious being by nature, and he convinced himself that going to investigate would be the right thing to do. He worked in a laboratory, after all. He could do a quick scan beforehand and make the work easier for his geologist friends.

Before leaving the building, he donned a protective suit, so as to avoid contaminating the object - or end up being contaminated by it.

It was a long, uncomfortable walk from the laboratory to the location of the object. He finally reached the trail of flames and followed it into the trees. The closer he got to the destination, the more he feared it was not a matter of meteorites.

He saw certain… ‘things’ that could not be classified as fragments from the rock - unless the meteorite was made of bent iron and metal sheeting with serial numbers.

Dominic slowed down and gulped when he realised he was closer to the object now. He tried to convince himself that it was not as obvious as it looked, because the obvious thing to him at that moment was that he was witnessing an unsuccessful landing of an… unidentified flying object. He shook his head, trying to get that silly thought out of his mind. After all, that could be only an aircraft… Right?

He kept walking for a few more meters and finally caught sight of the back of the… ‘aircraft’. There was more burning wreckage along the path, more huge white pieces of metal. The aircraft had an unusual design, something that Dominic had only seen in sci-fi movies and comics.

It was small - in comparison with Boeings - it looked more like a white [scramjet plane](http://www.styleofspeed.com/images/space/falcon/HJF-1-scramjet-plane-002-rot.jpg), but with longer wings (one of them had been ripped off, probably due the impact) and a more circular body.

“God...” Dominic held his breath while approaching the wingless side of the supposed aircraft. It was then that he noticed the name ‘aTLaS 763’ written in large letters just above the opening where the wing was supposed to be. “What is it?”

The fire continued to burn around the aircraft. Dominic could still see the trees on fire and he suddenly felt guilty for not having called the fire department before going to investigate anything. But it was already too late; he was there, standing before an unknown spaceship. Yes, ‘spaceship’, because it definitely did not have a human design.

Without even realising that his feet were moving, Dominic found himself already squeezing through the opening on the spaceship’s side. He activated the light system of his suit - sort of a lantern on each hand and on the top of his head - since darkness was all he could see. When he illuminated the place, he found only a mess of broken pieces of something that he couldn’t recognise.

Entering the spaceship, he continued his investigation. He walked further in the direction of the frontal part of the vehicle until he came upon sort of an open gate. Dominic crossed the opening and realised he had arrived at what must have been a navigation cabin because he saw a huge windscreen where he could see the outside.

Stepping closer the window, he heard a noise; it sounded like a whining.

Dominic froze.

Another sound. Something was moving.

Dominic was sweating bullets by this time. He thought of running, but his body didn’t respond him; instead he just felt his legs going weak. Dominic just had the strength and courage to turn his body towards the ‘whining thing’. While he slowly spun, the light from his lantern revealed him two feet, two legs, one arm, a torso, another arm.

And a human face.

Dominic exhaled loudly; seeing a human was a relief, after all. He censured himself for thinking like a child, waiting for something fantastic to happen. Now that he thought better, this probably was a new aircraft design, possibly still in testing phase, that’s why it crashed there.

He approached the injured red-haired man curled in one of the corners of the room. “Uh, hello? Are you okay?” It was the first thing he said as he crouched down and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.

_“Kho...”_ the man whined and Dominic frowned.

“Where are you from? Russia?” he asked once he had no idea what the man’s language was.

_“Kho… Sisi...”_ he stirred and tried to stretch his body, and when he did it, Dominic saw a patch of blood on the man’s tight white suit, just below his last rib.

“Oh, shit...” Dominic hurried up to try to put the man on his feet without hurting him even more. Once again the red-haired man stirred when Dom lifted him up. They left the aircraft with some difficulty, but the worst would be the path back to the laboratory. “Please, stay calm. I know you can do it. It’s alright.” Dominic said to the man without even looking at him and not even caring whether he could understand what he was speaking or not. “I’m definitely going to help you.”

***


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, comets and planetoids.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Muse. This is a work of fiction and it never happened.
> 
> I hope I didn't get carried on with the technical terms, so I inserted external links and I hope to make them clear. It's not a long chapter, 2464 words. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I did while writing it <3
> 
> Special thanks to [matturemuser](http://matturemuser.livejournal.com/) for being an awesome beta and [pwopahnetazeta](http://pwopahnetazeta.livejournal.com/) for sketching Matt's suit ([here](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmpKFkZCcAAH4qx.jpg) and [here](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmpKKTQCUAAkjIX.jpg)) <3

 

“Finally!” Dominic exhaled loud when he set foot in the laboratory building. He glanced quickly at the red-haired man he had just rescued and caught sight of a curious pattern of lines on his face. Even if he found himself intrigued by what he had just seen, Dominic knew he would have plenty time to pay attention to the man’s appearance later. For now he just had to concentrate on putting themselves in a secure place and take care of the stranger.

Still on the first floor, they went through a quick decontamination in a room just before reaching the lift. It was a default procedure every time someone entered the building. Decontamination included a quick, hard blast of air to remove dust and dirt, and to turn the skin overdried. Of course that was not all that the decontamination system could do; there were many other options, but considering the situation, Dominic opted for the quickest available option.

 

After being decontaminated, they proceeded to the lift. Dominic pressed the buttons for the floor where his laboratory was and then rested his back against the cold metal of the wall. “God!” he whispered, panting, “Do you speak my language?” he tried to communicate with the man once again, but no answer came from him. Dominic turned to face the guy, but he looked to be in shock. He was breathing heavily, staring at the floor. Dominic frowned when he looked down and spotted the huge blood stain on the man’s side. He wondered whether he’d be able to help him in time.

 

The lift stopped and Dominic carried the stranger inside the laboratory. Walking towards a parallel entrance, they got to a small room with a sort of large stretcher. Dominic hurried to place the man onto the stretcher and heard him hissing as he tried to lay down.

 

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” he tried to say, reassuringly. 

 

Dominic quickly stripped out of his protective suit, kicking it to the corner of the room. Still with adrenaline running through his veins with all this unusual situation, Dominic sought for sterilized scissors and a bunch of other materials to check the man’s injury. He tried to cut the fabric of the stranger’s suit, but it felt like iron and ended up warping the blade. Looking terrified at the scissors, Dominic thought of trying to undress the man instead. He carefully pulled the guy up and looked for a zipper or fastening of some sort, but didn’t find anything. 

 

There were these neon blue lines that started from his eyes, went around the man’s ears and the side of his neck, at the base of it. Each line went down to the collarbones, tracing them, to each shoulder and down his arms. There were also these two lines, from the same colour as the previous ones, that started from the middle of the guy’s bottom lip, went straight down his chin and the front of his neck, each line on both sides of his Adam’s apple. These lines continued straight down the chest, separating just above the groin area and down the front of each leg.

 

“What the hell am I supposed to do?!” 

 

Before Dominic could think of another way to gain access to the injury he meant to treat, the red-haired man cried out as a sharp pain struck him right in his wound, making him fall back onto the mattress, pressing a hand on his sore flesh and with a pained expression in his face, squeezing his eyes shut and biting on his bottom lip so hard that it actually ended up cut.

 

“Oh, shit!” he ran a hand through his hair and, to his surprise, he watched when the injured man moved one hand to his right temple, as if pressing it slightly, and half of the man’s suit withdrew down to… nowhere? Dominic blinked a few times before trying to process what he had just seen. 

 

It looked like, when the man pressed his temple, his suit quickly pulled down by itself, as if it was vanishing from his skin, dematerializing; and now it looked like the man was dressed only in trousers with the same material of the suit.

 

Dominic also realised that the lines he had seen in the man’s face moments earlier were now gone, as if they were part of his clothes. 

 

Well, actually now only the lines of the legs remained, giving that the top was gone.

 

It was quite an exquisite, foreign suit. Dominic had never seen one like that before. It was a suit that previously covered the whole body of that man, going up his neck to the base of his head, the back of his ears and up to his hair line. It was a really tight material and it looked like it sort of stuck to the skin. It was completely shiny white, except for those unexpected neon blue lines that actually had a fluorescent effect.

 

After a quick glance down the man’s body, Dominic noticed his skinny frame and extremely pale skin, but soon his eyes caught sight of the injury and Dominic remembered what he was supposed to be doing at the moment.

 

Now that he had full access to the wound, he handled a little scanner, that looked like a barcode reader, towards the injured area. Passing it a few inches above the injury, a green light scanned it and Dominic paid attention to the record in the little screen. That device was used to scan little fragments that could be inside wounds and, since Dominic didn’t know what happened for the man to get hurt, he wanted to know if other measures would be required.

 

The green light soon turned red and a bip came from the device. Dominic sighed in disappointment; there was a little fragment inside the man’s flesh. 

 

While he gathered the proper tools to remove that piece, Dominic tried to recall the navigation cabin and see if he could remember any broken thing, but since everything had been dark and he’d been anxious, he couldn’t remember anything helpful. 

 

After cleaning the injury, Dominic quickly prepared the anaesthesia, injecting it in a serum bag beside the stretcher, setted an oxygen mask and stepped closer to the red-haired man who was wriggling on the stretcher. “Hey, look at me...” he placed a sympathetic hand on the man’s shoulder and received a pained look from the other; cosmic blue eyes meeting stormy grey ones. For one moment Dominic found himself speechless, but soon shook his head and cleared his throat. “You’re going to undergo a fast procedure, okay? There’s nothing to worry about, it’ll be over soon. I’ll put you to sleep for a while then.”

 

The man actually nodded and closed his eyes, even if Dominic had sworn the other didn’t understand a single thing he said. With the anaesthesia already going through the man’s veins, Dominic put the oxygen mask on him and waited a few minutes until he finally had fallen unconscious. 

 

“It’ll be over soon...” Dominic said under his sigh as he cast a last glance at the strange man before looking for his scalpel.

 

***

 

A few hours had passed since Dominic finished the surgery in the man; he removed tiny pieces of glass and general smithereens from the guy’s flesh. He only now could relax a bit from the previous tension and, when he went to check outside the big window of his laboratory, he realised it was raining and the fire in the forest was nearly over. 

 

Now that was curious.

 

Sitting back on a chair, he started feeling his muscles relaxing and the incoming pain that was going to bother him for his physical effort after walking a long path wearing a heavy protective suit and with even more extra weight helping to support another person.

 

Dominic’s dry throat reminded him that he needed to drink something cool. Reluctantly, he stood up and left the laboratory; there was a vending machine outside in the hall and Dominic picked a bottle of water. While he refreshed himself with the liquid, his thoughts wandered back to the stranger in his laboratory.

 

Who is that guy? Where is he from? What does he do? Why is he here and what happened for him to crash there as if he was a divine being sent from Heaven to Earth? What a silly comparison.

 

Well, but those man’s eyes certainly were heavenly, thought Dominic.

 

And then he thought again about the man’s weird suit. Alright, it’s already the year of 2052 and clothes are not the same as they were thirty years ago, but Dominic had never seen any designed like that. Not to mention the extraordinary consistency of the fabric, which seemed super resistant. 

 

Was that man and his crazy aircraft and suit part of any secret government program? If so, they obviously would be looking for this guy right now. Would it mean Dominic was in trouble?! What if they find out that he rescued the man? They certainly will know about that. The government knows everything.

 

But, fortunately, there was something that could leave Dominic safe for a while; he was in protected territory. Even if the locations of the building he worked at were in England, the whole property corresponded to a research area and, since 2035, when the United Nations for Research and Scientific Progress was created, all laboratories and research establishments that joined the UNRSP became stateless. The laws from the countries they are located in doesn’t have immediate effect on these properties.

 

If the British government wanted their pilot and aircraft back, they must petition for a [writ of mandamus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus) plus the right authorization to inspect the area of the International Centre of Scientific Research, where Dominic worked.

 

Would they bother doing it? Dominic was too tired to think straight, so he decided to shrug it off for now. He could burn some neurons later, after a good nap. He had not slept in… what?  Thirty-six hours? He surely knows the harm of sleep absence.

 

Checking his digital wristwatch, he realised it was already six in the morning. As soon as Dominic entered the laboratory again, he was surprised to find the man trying to stand on his feet beside the big glass table at the centre of the room. 

 

He was still shirtless and bandages covered him around the waist. His hair was completely mussed and, when he lifted one arm and rubbed his eyes, Dominic noticed that the hair in his armpit was as red as on the man’s head. Quirking an eyebrow in curiosity, Dominic couldn’t stop himself from lowering his gaze until the man’s navel, where a sparse amount of light red hair could be seen.

 

Even there…? Dominic thought how curious that fact was because the man was not gingery, he had a really hot shade of red and that colour could only be achieved with dye.

 

‘Hot’. That word lingered in Dominic’s mind for a while, making a connection with the man before his eyes and, oh well, that’s not very professional of Dominic.

 

Clearing his throat, he looked up at the guy’s hypnotizing blue eyes, “H-hi,” he clumsily tried to make contact, but the man only kept staring at Dom. “Eh...” he decided to step closer to the red-haired man, holding up a hand to him, “I’m Dominic Howard.” Offering a friendly smile, he waited for the man to shake his hand.

 

After all, a handshake is a universal greeting, isn’t it?

Well… Maybe it was not… 

 

Let’s just say that Dominic got pretty confused, and unintentionally aroused, when the red-haired guy stepped forward with an equally ‘friendly’ smile on his face and, surprisingly, placed a hand between Dominic’s legs, lusciously squeezing him over the fabric as he tastefully licked the blond’s face, from his bottom lip to the end of his right cheek.

 

Dominic just stayed there, with a raised hand, not to mention another thing that had risen as well, speechless and caught by surprise by the literally warm greeting from the guy.

 

“iHi, Dominic! MIa hama kuba SikaNkulunkulu Owinileyo Mnganelihle. Jubili kini nazi. Kini bambithe kuh!”

 

Still shocked by what had just happened, Dominic didn’t utter a word. “iHi?” The guy tried to talk to the blond. “Oh!” he facepalmed himself, chuckled and looked back at Dominic, “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten you have no idea what I’m saying!”

 

Dominic’s expression could not be put into words. Besides the harassment he had just gone through, now the man who previously spoke a foreign language was perfectly speaking English. He looked at the guy, astonished, before finally organizing a bit his thoughts, “What the hell did you just do?!” 

 

“Hm?”

 

“What the hell did you just do?!” As if he had just realised the world around himself, Dominic spoke aloud somewhat between anger and confusion.

 

“What?”

 

“I can’t fucking believe you just- You just licked my face, man! And touched my things!” he stepped back and tried to wipe off his face with the sleeve of his lab coat; realisation finally struck him. “Who the fuck are you? Why did you just do it to me?!”

 

“I just greeted you! But, well, I reckon this is not an acceptable way of saying ‘hi’ on Earth? And I had said my name is SikaNkulunkulu Owinileyo Mnganelihle. Nice to meet you and you taste good, Dominic,” he smiled politely, despite his weird behaviour.

 

“What the…? What are you talking about? And what’s your name again?!”

 

“SikaNkulunkulu Owinileyo Mnganelihle!”

 

“What the hell, man?! Where are you from?” Dominic could not figure out how to pronounce that odd name.

 

“I’m from Nezwe, but according to the files I read, your people call my planet Gliese 667 Cc…? That’s a really weird name to call a planet, you know? But we’ve been calling yours Throwu for ages. I guess we’re even now,” he chuckled slightly and Dominic was still shocked. He even wondered whether he was so tired that he had started hallucinating. “To be honest, maybe my name can’t be pronounced by people like you. If I ever had the chance to translate it to some human name, what would it be…?” Tapping his chin with his fingers, the stranger looked thoughtful for a while, “Oh! What about Mathewu uJakobe Bel Amy? Is it an acceptable name?”

 

Not a word from Dominic.

 

“Shit… If aTLaS were here he could search in his files some human names… Let me think better… Hm, I think Matthew James Bellamy could be the closest translation of my name? The meaning is similar though.” ‘Matthew’ glanced back to Dominic after hearing a thud, just to find the blond sprawled on the floor.

 

He just passed out.

 

***


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids, comets and planetoids.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Muse. This is a work of fiction and it never happened.
> 
> An update, yay :) Went through a lot of research for this chapter, from law to nursing lol I apologise for any inaccuracy (especially the law one, since the civil law I study is completely different from the common law system :/). 
> 
> P.S.: _data maxima venia_ means 'with all due respect' JSYK because it'll appear later in this chapter xD
> 
> Enjoy!

The first thing that Dominic noticed as soon as he started regaining his senses was a tremendous headache. He slowly sat up on the cold floor, pressing a hand against his forehead and feeling his head spinning. When he finally opened his eyes, the intense light from the fluorescent lamps hurt them, making him flinch, covering his face with one hand.   
  
His eyes felt like they were burning or had sand in them, so Dominic rubbed them, which eased the discomfort for a little, but that was not enough. He then stood up on his feet, grabbing the edges of a metal table close to him to support himself. Blinking a few times, he now could focus better on what he was seeing despite the pain.    
  
The laboratory was a real mess. There were tools scattered on the floor, a greenish fluid soaking them. It looked like an earthquake had happened and Dominic was not awake to see it.   
  
Or was he…? He tried to remember. Indeed, there was an earthquake last night! Slowly, bits of memories from the previous hours flashed into Dominic’s mind and he was so stupefied by what he remembered that he didn’t even pay attention to the voices outside his laboratory.   
  
Oh, wait… Were they real memories or just a weird dream he had after passing out because unstoppable hours of work? He recalled a foreign aircraft that had crashed on the forest; Dominic stepped closer the window and opened it. He saw the damaged forest but there was no sign of the aircraft. He then remembered a red-haired guy, hurt, bleeding. As if that memory snapped something, Dominic ran to the small room in the laboratory and found a stretcher with messed sheets, as if someone had been there no long ago. And there were all of Dominic’s surgery tools and his protective suit dropped in a corner of the room.   
  
“What the hell…?” Dominic didn’t even have time to solve that puzzle when he heard the door of his laboratory being opened and hurried steps following.    
  
“Dom!” a worried male voice called him, “Dominic!” Dominic caught sight of a brunet running towards him.   
  
“Tom? W-what happened?”   
  
“You owe me an explanation, damn you!” The brunet man yelled, landing both hands on the blond’s shoulders.   
  
“What?!”   
  
“That ‘thing’! Why didn’t you call me?! _They_ are here now and want ‘that’!”   
  
“What the fuck are you talking about, Tom?!” Dominic frowned in confusion and snapped Thomas’ hands off his shoulders.   
  
“Last night you brought in a humanlike being and now the Exopolitic Security Agency is here, Dom!”   
  
“W-what?!” the blond widened his eyes as if he had just heard bullshit from his friend. He couldn’t trust his words. “Are you nuts or what, Tom?”   
  
“Hm? Don’t tell me you really don’t remember the red haired ‘guy’... Do you?” Tom guessed, sounding disappointed.   
  
“Yeah, I do remember that guy, but you said… You said ‘humanlike being’... You know how that sounds?”    
  
“That sounds exactly how it should. You didn’t mishear, Dom. And I’m being very serious about it,” he frowned.   
  
“No...” as realisation finally struck him, Dominic stepped backwards until he hit the nearest table. He stopped and looked to nowhere in particular, staring at the void and interpreting his friend’s words.   
  
That couldn’t be real, could it?   
  
“Listen, I really understand how you’re feeling right now because it was shocking even to myself when I found out, but we’re professionals, Dom. We’re scientists and you need to act like one, facing the truth. But I’m sure you’re well aware of what the government people are going to do to that being if we don’t intervene quickly! They were not supposed to be in here without permission!” The surprised blond looked up into the brunet’s eyes, seeking safety and a balance for his thoughts. “Think like the great geneticist, evolutionary biologist and physiologist you are! This is one of the biggest achievements you could make in your whole life! Don’t waste this chance.”   
  
The motivational speech of Thomas made Dominic snap back to reality. He knew he had little time to claim for his rights and, just like Tom said, he couldn’t waste this chance.   
  
“Alright,” he firstly whispered, “Alright! Let’s do it, Tom!”    
  
Both guys rushed towards the lift, Dominic quickly pressing the ground floor button. Soon enough they reached the first floor and immediately came across several agents from the ESA distributed around the great hall. They were all wearing black multi-threat suits and full-facepiece self-contained breathing apparatus. Some of the men were walking from one side to the other with unknown beeping devices in their hands while two of them carried an unconscious red-haired man outside the building.   
  
Dominic immediately recognized the guy, arching his eyebrows as he ran towards the two men carrying the humanlike. “Oi! What are you doing?!” he tried to push the men aside, but he was shoved on the floor instead.   
  
“Stay away! We’re dealing with hazardous material. Do not approach!” the men told him and continued following towards the exit.   
  
“You said ‘material’?! How could you?! He’s a-”   
  
“He’s not a human being, he doesn’t have any rights here,” a steady voice said out aloud and Dominic looked over his shoulders as he stood up. “By the way, we can’t rush things yet and call ‘him’ a ‘he’, right?” a fourth man wearing a regular black suit, unlike the agents’ ones, smirked, both hands inside his pockets while he stepped closer to Dom.   
  
“Who are you?” Dominic frowned as his friend Tom approached him.   
  
“Dominic Anderson, director of Exopolitic Security Agency,” the man took his ID from his pocket and showed it to Dom and Tom.   
  
“B-but what are you doing here?” Tom asked, “This is a research area, you have no jurisdiction in here!”    
  
“Sure, I don’t. Well, at least not without this,” Anderson took some papers from the inner pocket of his suit and gave them to Tom.   
  
There was the authorization for the ESA to inspect the International Centre of Science and Research and seize any ‘extraterrestrial material and life form’ present in those lands.   
  
“How the hell did you get this shit so quick?!” the brunet said with anger, giving back the papers to Anderson, who limited himself to chuckle.    
  
“You didn’t expect the government to let this go, did you? You also don’t believe the sky is unwatched, do you?” he winked, maliciously. “We’re done here, guys!” he said aloud for his agents to listen, “Let’s go home.”   
  
“W-wait!” Dominic said before the man leave. “What are you going to do with him?” he asked worried.   
  
“Well, well...” Anderson approached Dom, laid one hand onto the blond’s shoulder and whispered in his ear “top secret” before leaving from once and for all.   
  
***   
  
“We can’t let that happen, Dom!” Jaclyn said, equally bewildered about that situation. She stood from his seat and went towards the kitchen to fill her mug with more hot coffee. She soon returned to the living room where Dominic and Thomas were seated on the couch. “I mean, alright, that guy had all the permissions he needed to get inside the building, but you still can fight for it!” she sipped the coffee.   
  
“But how? It’s a lost battle, our visitor will probably end up being dissected and I don’t stand any chance against the government...” Dom rubbed his brow, looking very discontent.   
  
“It’s not the end of the line, my friend,” Jaclyn sighed. “But weird things happened and I still can’t understand them...”   
  
“Like what?” Tom asked. “I mean, which weird thing? A lot happened, you know?” A faint smile plastered on his face.   
  
“Such as what are you two doing here right now? I would never expect to see you two so soon after being in touch with an alien AND the ESA knowing about you.”   
  
“You mean we should’ve been killed?!” Dominic widened his eyes in horror and Jaclyn shrugged, taking more one sip from his beverage.    
  
“Well… Or at least you’d end up being arrested? I don’t know, it’s really weird they let you guys alone without asking questions.”   
  
“I have to admit, it really seems very suspect...” Thomas nodded. “Fortunately we’re still alive!” he laughed nervously.   
  
“Aw man, it only makes me think that they are still going to come our way again sooner or later!” the worried blond sighed and sank back in the couch.   
  
“It’s likely to happen, not gonna lie,” she said, “But if I were you, I’d get in their way before they come after me!”   
  
“What do you mean?”   
  
“You’d not have much voice in this particular case, Tom, but Dom had indeed made contact with the alien, and, judging by all his specialities, maybe… Maybe we could make Dom join their research team, if you know what I mean.”   
  
“Wow, I don’t think that’d work! Their team must be very well specialized already. They don’t need someone who would get them into trouble,” Dominic shook his head in denial.   
  
“For god’s sake, Dom! You’re like a genius! You’re not even thirty-years-old yet and already have three different degrees! They’d leap at the chance to score someone as expert as you!”   
  
“It doesn’t matter! They’d never accept me!”   
  
“Dominic, dear, why don’t you leave the difficult stuff with me?” Jacklyn smiled softly. “Or don’t you believe in my skills as a lawyer?” she winked and patted the blond on the shoulder.   
  
“I-I do believe! What I don’t believe in is the government.”   
  
“Shush! Like I said, leave the difficult stuff with me.”   
  
***   
  
“You need to tell me how you got to the second instance so quick like this, Jaclyn!” Dominic said under his sighed as he sat on the Court seat.   
  
“Oh, well, last night Tom asked if I’d had to sleep with someone to get this case up here so fast.” the elegant woman chuckled, looking over her shoulders and spotting her husband at the bottom of the Court. “This is more likely to be a third instance and, seriously, I have my contacts, Dom. And no, I didn’t sleep with anyone but Tom.”   
  
“Ew, Jaclyn, please! Spare me the details!” Dom covered his face with his hands while the woman quietly laughed.   
  
“You stay calm during the audience, alright? Everything is gonna be okay, trust me! I work with international law for years and you already know how good I am.”   
  
“Yeah, international law, not extraterrestrial.”   
  
“We’re still dealing with humans here, you’re not going against any alien. It’s you against the government, somehow.”   
  
“Everything sounds so complicated!”   
  
“Stop acting like a schoolgirl and get it together, man! Now, wait for the audience to start.”   
  
It had been a month since the incident in the forest and their case was being heard by the International Court of Justice, the primary judicial branch of United Nations, the intergovernmental organization to which the United Nations for Research and Scientific Progress were directly linked. They were now in The Hague, Netherlands.   
  
A few minutes later, the rest of the fifteen judges had finally arrived at the place and taken their seats. They were from USA, Slovakia, Mexico, Japan, France, New Zealand, Morocco, Russia, Brazil, Somalia, UK, China, Italy, Uganda and India. They basically consisted of representatives from many of the legal systems of the world, such as civil law, common law and post-communist law.   
  
“It’s gonna start now, Dom,” Jaclyn whispered. “Relax, okay?” he nodded when she smiled at him.   
  
***   
“Data maxima venia, my Lord, but all my client is asking for is a chance to be part of the team of professionals that is going to study the new being discovered in the territory of his laboratory. In my simple point of view, Mr. Howard is more than competent to be part of the research. He’s dedicated a considerable part of his life to the studies of genetics, evolutionary biology and physiology. Since the subject is a new life form originating from outside our planet and considering the fact that Mr. Howard was the first human being to be in touch with said subject, it’s more than acceptable for him to join the other professionals.” Dominic stared at Jaclyn in awe. That woman really knew how and what to say! “Mr. Howard’s aim would be finding out the subject’s origins, biological and cultural information, such as its reasons for coming to Earth.” She sounded very confident in her speech and the blond started to ponder that he actually had a chance in that fight.    
  
“My client is completely capable to undertake such work, otherwise he’d not be in the most important centre of scientific research,” she pointed out. “He treated the subject’s wounds and actually spoke to him. We’ve not been permitted to know the condition of that being now, but I can assure you all that communication would not be a problem if the subject recognizes Mr. Howard as an ally, and not an enemy. We, human beings, can’t be naîve enough to ignore the probable consequences of any act we do. We should be prudent in our treatment of the subject. Our lack of information about the being’s origins and intentions should dictate utmost caution in our dealings. Mr Howard’s proven positive communication with the being should be viewed as a stepping stone in the pathway to friendly relations with new lifeforms.”   
  
Jaclyn finished her speech and returned to her seat. Now they’d just need to wait until the judges had reached a final decision.   
  
“Thank you, Jaclyn,” Dominic whispered and the woman smiled at him.   
  
“I tried my best. Hope the five hours long speech was worth it.”    
  
“Sorry for making you go through such trouble...”   
  
“Don’t be sorry. It’s my job! Now we shall wait for their decision.”   
  
“Okay.”   
  
Almost an hour later the judges had finally made their decision. Dominic’s hands were sweating, nervous about what was about to happen.   
  
“Given all that has been said, we absolutely understand the relevant request for participation by Dominic James Howard, according to the files. It’s been proven that his qualifications to apply to the research in the matter plus the relevant fact that he was the first one to be in touch with the humanlike. It’d be a good point in the research, agreeing with Ms. Kirk’s words. The judges have decided that Dominic James Howard is allowed to join the group of researchers, under condition of being banned from any scientific activity during ten years in case of breaking silence about anything concerned to the extraterrestrial being.”   
  
“Oh god, we did it!” Dominic exhaled in relief, barely believing what he had just heard. At first he ignored the bit where he’d be banned if he ever broke silence about the red haired guy. Well, he was not planning to tell everyone about that yet anyway. To be honest, he really wished the world could see the being named Matthew. He truly wanted the world to know the truth about the alien, but he also knew it was a very dangerous thing to do. At least at this point.   
  
One thing at a time. Dominic was already relieved to know he would be able to meet Matthew again and try to understand a bit more about him. He tried to follow Tom’s advice and think like the real, professional scientist he was.    
  
Studying an alien would be the biggest achievement of his life.   
  
***   
  
“This way, sir,” Dominic followed the woman in the black suit who was guiding him through the laboratory of the Exopolitic Agency. He wondered why a _security_ agency would be equipped with such a high tech laboratory. It had been only two days since the audience in The Netherlands and Dominic had quickly received a call from the EAS, asking for some of his information and they had also sent him an email with the location of the laboratory. His regime of silence had commenced so he couldn’t even tell his friends Tom and Jaclyn whatever he was going to do with the alien.   
  
He was now wearing one of the black multi-threat suits, just like the men who had carried Matthew that day in his lab, and heading to a large door at the end of a completely white corridor. When they reached the door, it automatically opened for the woman, but she stopped before stepping in.   
  
“Let me quickly explain you how our security system works, Mr. Howard. Since we got in this corridor there were sensors in the walls and floor capturing my way of walking and also different sensors in the wall analysing my ear-shape. Until the end of the day you’ll be able to register your ear-shape and don’t worry about the way you walk because it already has been recorded since the beginning of our walk.” She smiled and stepped aside, gesturing for Dom to walk into the new corridor they had access to now. “I’m not allowed to proceed, but you can keep walking. You’re going to undergo a quick decontamination before finally reaching the laboratory. Have a nice day, Mr. Howard.”    
  
Dominic nodded, still impressed by all the technology in the building, and went through the door, which closed behind him quickly. He gulped, stared at more white walls surrounding him and kept walking. As he took the first step, he was struck by heavy air streams. “Jesus!” He said, being caught by surprise.    
  
It didn’t take long for the streams to be over and Dominic was able to walk again. He continued a short way before finally reached another door, which immediately opened for him. The blond didn’t understand how that was possible, until he saw another man wearing the same suit as him.   
  
“Welcome! You must be Howard, am I right?” the tall man asked and Dom nodded, unsure of how to proceed.   
  
“Y-yeah, I’m Dominic Howard.”   
  
“Nice to meet you, man. I’m Christopher Wolstenholme, but call me Chris. I don’t mind,” Chris’ face was covered by the full-facepiece self-contained breathing apparatus, his eyes being the only things visible through the mask visor, but Dominic certainly could distinguish a smile in the guy’s voice.   
  
“Nice to meet you too, Chris,” he smiled back.   
  
“I believe you’re a geneticist and physiologist, right?”   
  
“And evolutionary biologist too.”    
  
“What?! You don’t look that old to me! When did you start to study? When you were just a baby or what?” Christopher laughed and patted Dom on his back. “C’mon, let me show you the lab. By the way, I’m the leader of the geneticists team. I hope you’ll enjoy working with us.”   
  
“Thank you,” Dom replied, much relieved for being made to feel so welcome on his first day. He’d been thinking about this non-stop lately, always thinking of the worst. Fortunately he wasn’t feeling as nervous as before.   
  
Christopher showed him the basic stuff from the first laboratory. But as they walked further into the place, more people appeared and, finally, after some more walking, Dom saw a huge capsule at the bottom with several tubes connected to it. The capsule was filled with a transparent fluid and there was someone inside it.   
  
Dominic immediately recognized Matthew.   
  
“Well, this would be the main reason you’ve joined us, Dominic,” Christopher said, pointing to the capsule, “The alien.”   
  
Matthew was still wearing his original resistant suit, his eyes were closed as if he was sleeping, and he was breathing through a nasal cannula. “D-did you hurt him?” Dominic frowned, afraid of the answer he could get.   
  
“Hurt him? No, we couldn’t even take his suit off! We’ve been trying for a whole month, expecting to collect some blood samples, but the only thing we actually had access to was his hair.”   
  
“What do you mean? I can see his face uncovered...”   
  
“Truth is that it is covered in something we couldn’t identify yet. If you get closer you’ll realise there’s a transparent layer of a resistant material, probably the same as the rest of his suit, covering his skin. It’s almost imperceptible though.”    
  
“But then how could you insert the cannula?”   
  
“Like I said, it’s covering his skin and, if we’re right, it’s also covering the insides of his nostrils but allows him to breath nonetheless. Everything is still really foreign to us! Hope you’ll be able to help us to figure out how that material works.”   
  
“It’s like it’s protecting him...” Dominic whispered almost to himself, very thoughtfully as he approached the capsule, looking curiously at the man inside it.   
  
“Exactly! And it’s terrific! Can’t imagine what is going to happen when we find out more about that technology!” Chris said, very excited.   
  
“Yeah...” Dominic placed a hand over the glass, just in front of the man. Still eyeing Matthew thoroughly, he noticed when suddenly the alien’s fingers moved slightly. “What did you do to get him in here?” he asked, suspicious.   
  
“He was immobilized by some shots of tranquilizers. I’m surprised they worked! Apparently the covers on his neck and face were not active when he was shot. We could only conclude it’s some sort of intelligent biomaterial. We’re not sure.”   
  
“Has he ever awakened since then?” the blond noticed Matthew’s fingers moving again.   
  
“Not really. He’s in an induced coma. Those were the orders from the superiors. Why?”   
  
“Really? Because I think he’s waking up.” Dominic said as Matthew’s left hand slowly moved forward, touching the glass, exactly where Dom’s hand was.   
  
Then Matthew opened his eyes.

 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the biometric systems mentioned in this chapter are plausible and there are many studies about them, especially the way of walking one. The International Court of Justice is real, but it only accepts cases of State vs. State and not Individual vs. State like is mentioned in this fic. Since it's futuristic FICTION... It doesn't do any harm, right? xD

**Author's Note:**

> If you reached the end, don't worry, many things will be explained along the chapters! :)


End file.
